WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible mutual defense treaty between the two nations, a move that could bolster Netanyahu’s re-election bid just days before Israelis go to the polls. “I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving […]

By Andrew Osborn and Andrey Kuzmin MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, has lost a slew of seats in the Moscow parliament, RIA news agency said on Monday, suggesting a tactical voting strategy pushed by opponents may have worked. Sunday’s poll was one of the most closely watched local elections in years after […]

LONDON (Reuters) – British opposition parties have agreed to vote against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s possible request for an election, unless legislation has been passed blocking a no-deal Brexit, an ITV political correspondent said. “Understand opposition parties agreed at their meeting that the No Deal bill must pass before they are willing to vote for an election,” ITV’s Paul Brand […]

The head of Russia’s election commission is standing by a decision to keep a dozen independent candidates from running for the city legislature in Moscow, but concedes after weeks of protests drew unusually large crowds, thousands of arrests and unfavorable attention that the qualification rules are outdated. Interested in Russia? The Central Election Commission said earlier this month that 13 […]

LONDON/PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) – After sterling soared and some British newspapers roared at a supposed Brexit victory for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Europe’s power brokers had a more sobering message: the basic divorce deal is not changing. Three years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the outcome of the tortuous Brexit crisis remains unclear, with options ranging […]

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Local Argentine markets on Thursday reacted positively to signs that political leaders from both parties are determined to control an economic crisis sparked by a shock primary-election result that wiped out around a quarter of the peso’s value The peso began to fall after center-left presidential candidate Alberto Fernandez, running alongside former leftist President Cristina Fernandez […]

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday unveiled a package of welfare subsidies and lower taxes for workers to lessen the impact of an economic crisis just months before a re-election bid, but his announcement did not immediately halt the peso currency’s collapse. The peso opened 12.3% weaker at 61 per U.S. dollar after Macri announced the […]

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine President Mauricio Macri vowed on Monday to win a second term despite a surprisingly strong performance by the opposition in the primary election that set off a shockwave through markets, crashing the peso currency and sending stocks and bonds tumbling. Macri said he would “reverse” the result of Sunday’s primary, but acknowledged that a weaker […]

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s election fever is starting to mount. The country will go to the polls for primary elections on Aug. 11 ahead of the national ballot in October, seen as a referendum on the austerity politics of center-right incumbent President Mauricio Macri amid a tight economic malaise. The primary covers candidates for president, some provincial governors and […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc was forecast to win a solid majority in an upper house election on Sunday that could determine whether his dream of revising the post-war, U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution can be kept alive. Media surveys show Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner on track to win more than […]